The EU called the removal of forest protection wording a 'mishap' ... an aerial view of cleared rainforest in the Amazon basin. Photograph: Bruno Domingos/Reuters

The EU had to apologise last night after a British official at the Bangkok climate negotiations single-handedly rewrote its position to effectively sanction the felling of the world's rainforests in order to grow plantations of palm oil.

Wording that would have protected natural forests was in the draft UN text at the start of the week's negotiations, but had mysteriously disappeared by Wednesday – to the delight of loggers and some African countries.

On Friday, more than 20 countries led by Brazil, Mexico, India and Norway protested vigorously and pleaded for the safeguard to be put back in. But the EU, supported by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and other countries not known for their forestry protection policies, declined to reinstate it.

This prompted environmentalists and others to accuse the EU of being in the pocket of the global logging industry – some of whose members were at the negotiations lobbying delegates in the Bangkok conference halls.

But at a press conference this afternoon, the EU gave way. A clearly embarrassed Swedish spokesman was forced to say the negotiator had blundered. "It was an unfortunate mishap," he said. "Sometimes negotiators think of tactical moves. In this case, he wanted to wait until the Barcelona talks next month (to reinstate it). The EU has not changed its position. It is unfortunate. The poor negotiator has been slapped in his face."

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